No matter the size of your business or the types of services that you offer, if your livelihood depends on making a sale this is probably a question that you have entertained.

How do you decide if the time and expense that goes into building and maintaining a website will impact your sales?

For most businesses, there is no direct way to quantify this relationship. A better way to judge the return on the investment (ROI) is by gaining a deeper understanding of how your website is an integral part of your marketing and the role it plays in assisting the decision-making process of a potential client.

The Basics

On the most basic level just having a web presence is essential to legitimize your business, to enable being found by google searches (SEO), and to have a local footprint.

Hopefully, you have several different inbound channels that potential leads are learning about your business, but most definitely after they do learn of you, one of the first things they will look for is your website to find out more about your business. This is your first touch to make a good impression. You will be evaluated on the overall look, ease of use, and information provided from your website. By having an outdated, uninformative, or worse a non-existent presence on the web, can diminish your chances for consideration. On these merits alone, this should be enough to motivate you to put your best efforts forward!

Your website should be your #1 Salesperson.

A successful salesperson understands how to fulfill the client’s needs along the“Buyer’s Journey”, which is awareness, consideration, and decision making, providing informative solutions at each stage of this exploration can help seal the deal.

Your website is valuable in helping to support the sales process through these stages.

Let’s see how this can work.

Stage 1 – AwarenessThe buyer has identified an issue or service they want to pursue.

Is your website a resource, is your business coming across as knowledgeable and experienced?

Are you communicating a current, professional, friendly, and cohesive message?

Stage 2 – Consideration and EvaluationThe buyer is actively looking for a solution for their needs and they are going online to look at your website to evaluate your business.

Your website should answer many of the pre-sales questions prospective clients are looking for and allow them to become more familiar with your business.

Another aspect in this stage is that the website can help to self-qualify leads, filtering out the ones that are not a good fit and being contacted by high-quality customers, that have a greater chance of becoming a sale.

It can also add to efficiency in your initial meetings, by directing clients to specific pages or having them fill out forms, saving time and helping to answer specific pre-sales questions before the call.

Stage 3. The decision to purchase a new product or service.

The multiple interactions that take place between your business and the prospective client all play a very important role in leading up to the sale. The goal is making it easy for them to finalize the transaction, forming a relationship with your brand, and ultimately gaining their trust in you. Your website assists in this process by being a resource, answering questions, and promoting your services in a way that speaks directly and indirectly to your consumer, complementing the overall experience and hopefully closing the sale.

A Multitasker

As you can see your website is an invaluable part of marketing your business in the work that it does. It provides a web presence for inbound marketing, assists in the Buyer’s Journey, and as the ultimate multitasker, your website can also be a tool for learning and honing your sales message. By analyzing analytics such as time spent on pages, search terms, and even devices used, this information can help you to improve your message and help you to reach your ultimate goal – to grow your business.

If you are interested in making the investment in your website and marketing contact Digital Space Designs to learn more.